FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 17, 2012

SID Contact: Taylor Thomas (765-730-6766 or tbthomas@illinois.edu)
Link http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-wrestl/recaps/031712aad.html

 

Fighting Illini Wrestling

 

Illini Place Four on Final Day of NCAAs

The Orange and Blue post top-10 finish

                    

St. Louis – The Illini wrapped up competition at the 2012 NCAA Championships with four Illini placing in the top eight of the tournament. Jordan Blanton (174) took fourth, B.J. Futrell (133) took sixth, Jesse Delgado (125) placed seventh and Conrad Polz (165) finished eighth. After Session V, the Illini currently sit in seventh place with 62 points. That place could change after the finals tonight. 

 

Blanton finished the highest of all the Illini as he wrestled above his No. 7 seed,took fourth and notched his second All-American honor. In BlantonÂ’s consolation semifinals match against No. 4 seed Logan Storley (Minnesota), the Illini grappler and the Gopher were scoreless after the first. Blanton started on bottom for the second and scored the only point of the match with his escape. The redshirt-junior rode out the Gopher for the remainder of the bout and moved on to face No. 2 Chris Perry (Oklahoma State), a rematch of the championship quarterfinals. Blanton dropped his match to Perry 4-1, but finished a career-best fourth place at the three-day contest.

 

Futrell finished the highest of his career, taking sixth at his third national tournament. In his first match against No. 10 Chris Dardannes, Futrell was in control throughout the first period, with a near pin just seconds into the bout and lead the Gopher 5-1 after the first and 8-4 after the second. Dardannesscored two escapes and a takedown before putting Futrell on his back and getting the pin in 6:29. The Park Forest, Ill., native then fell to No. 6 Devin Carter (Virginia Tech) by a pin in 1:44 to take sixth.

 

In just his first national tournament, freshman Delgado earned All-American honors and placed seventh after he defeated No. 12 Steve Bonanno (Hofstra), 3-1. Delgado and Bonanno put up zero points in the first period, however the Illini grappler notched the escape to go ahead 1-0 after the second. Bonanno escaped early in the third, but Delgado scored the winning takedown, 3-1 and ended his rookie year with a 34-8 record.

 

Polz faced WisconsinÂ’s Ben Jordan in his final match of the national tournament. The Illini gave up a takedown and trailed Jordan 2-0 after the first. Polz started down for the second period and escaped to inch the score closer, 2-1. In the final period, Jordan scored an escape and the riding time point to win 4-1. Polz ended the season as the eighth best wrestler in the country with a 24-8 record, a career-best.

 

 

125: No. 4 seed Jesse Delgado, Fr., Salinas, Calif., 34-8

First Round: Dec. Jerome Robinson (Old Dominion), 6-1

Second Round: Pinned Camden Eppert (Purdue), 5:11

Quarterfinals: dec. by No. 5 Nicholas Bedelyon (Kent State), 8-5 TB2

Consolation round of 12: dec. No. 3 Alan Water (Missouri), 5-2

Consolation quarters: dec. by No. 8 Ryan Mango (Stanford), 4-3

Seventh place match: dec. No. 12 Steve Bonanno (Hofstra), 3-1

Delgado – 7th place

 

133: No. 4 seed B.J. Futrell, r-Jr., Park Forest, Ill., 30-9

First Round: Pinned Nick Soto (UT-Chattanooga), 4:13

Second Round: Pinned Zach Zehner (Wyoming), 1:05

Quarterfinals: Pinned No. 5 Joe Colon (Northern Illinois), 0:43

Semifinals: dec. by No. 1 Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State), 8-2

Consolation semifinals: pinned by No. 10 Chris Dardanes (Minnesota) 6:29

Fifth place match: pinned by No. 6 Devin Carter (Virginia Tech) 1:44

Futrell – 6th place

 

149: Eric Terrazas, Sr., Wheaton, Ill., 25-13

First Round: Pinned by No. 5 Ian Miller (Kent State), 0:57

Consolation first round: dec. No. 12 seed Ivan Lopouchanski (Purdue), 5-3

Consolation second round: dec. Josh Wilson (Utah Valley), 4-2 SV1

Consolation third round: pinned by No. 4 Donald Vinson (Binghamton), 2:32

Terrazas eliminated

 

165: No. 9 seed Conrad Polz, r-Jr., Orland Park, Ill., 24-8

First Round: Dec. by Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma), 8-3

Consolation first round: Dec. Mark Lewandowski (Buffalo), 6-3

Consolation second round: dec. Marshall Peppelman (Cornell), 7-1

Consolation third round: pinned Corey Lear (Bucknell), 0:32

Consolation round of 12: dec. No. 12 Paul Gillespie (Hofstra), 3-1 SV1

Consolation quarters: dec. by Kyle Blevins (Appalachian St.) 4-2 SV1

Seventh place match: dec. by Ben Jordan (Wisconsin), 5-2

Polz – 8th place

 

174: No. 7 seed Jordan Blanton, r-Jr., Richmond, Ill., 30-8

First Round: Pinned Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (The Citadel), 6:28

Second Round: dec. Ryan LeBlanc (Indiana), 6-1

Quarterfinals: dec. by No. 2 Chris Perry (Oklahoma State), 3-2 TB1

Consolation round of 12: maj. dec. Peter Huntley (Navy), 12-3

Consolation quarters: maj. dec. No. 6 Ryan DesRoches (Cal Poly), 11-2

Consolation semifinals: dec. No. 4 Logan Storley (Minnesota), 1-0

Third place match: dec. by No. 2 Chris Perry (Oklahoma State), 4-1

Blanton – 4th place

 

184: Tony Dallago, r-So., Harrisburg, Pa., 25-13

First Round: Dec. Luke Rebertus (Navy), 10-4

Second Round: Dec. by No. 2 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh), 8-3

Consolation second round: maj. dec. Ian Hinton (Michigan State), 10-0

Consolation third round: pinned Jacob Swartz (Boise State): 0:33

Consolation round of 12: dec. by No. 1 seed Joe LeBlanc (Wyoming), 13-6

Dallago eliminated

 

197: No. 7 seed Mario Gonzalez, r-So., Aurora, Ill., 26-9

First Round: Dec. Derek Stnaley (Army), 6-1

Second Round: Dec. by No. 10 Sonny Yohn (Minnesota), 8-5

Consolation second round: maj. dec. No. 4 Christian Boley (Maryland), 12-3

Consolation third round: dec. Richard Perry (Bloomsburgh), 4-3

Consolation round of 12: dec. by No. 9 Alfonso Hernandez (Wyoming), 7-6

Gonzalez eliminated